Do MSNBC and Fox News Have a Deal? Doubtful.

By GottaLaff

I could have left the title as cliffhangy as TVNewser did (they left out the "Doubtful" in theirs), but I'm a softy and couldn't do that to you:

A few weeks ago, a TVNewser reader emailed and wondered:

Fox News lately in their media montages is leaving out NBC News. Take Bill O'Reilly yesterday on MJ death coverage; they showed CBS, ABC, CNN and Fox but not NBC. Is there something going on behind the scenes between NBC and Fox? Maybe a cease and desist order for showing off air?

At the time we asked around, but were told by all sides there was no deal, cease & desist or anything of the sort.

Not if they want to keep their ratings up, there wasn't.

[T]he LATimes' Joe Flint reports talks were had by the chairmen of the companies that own the channels. "News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch and General Electric chief Jeffrey Immelt met up [...] to figure out how to defuse tensions between the two channels." [...]

But Flint reports any "message of peace" has not taken hold.

Keith Olbermann continued to needle Faux Noise, and O'Leilly kept on being his odious little self.

And then there was this week - from Wednesday's NBC & MSNBC coverage of FNC host Glenn Beck saying that he believes Pres. Obama is "a racist," right up until this morning, when Fox & Friends had a bit on the Tonight Show's falling ratings and blaming NBC for "squeezing Jay Leno out" of late night.

Stay tuned... because that's exactly what they want you to do.